A friend recently recommended a book she had read that explained something I had noticed about seemingly two different groups of people. The book is entitled, “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” by Carol Dweck, a world renown professor at Stanford University and pioneering researcher in the field of motivation, why people succeed (or don’t) and how to foster success.

In her book, Ms. Deck describes those with a fixed mindset who seem to either plateau at a certain level, or even decline, and those that continue to grow and evolve oftentimes achieving success later in life. Nowhere is this growth mindset more evident than in this rather famous quote from Michael Jordan who some may know was cut from his high school basketball team.

I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

Michael Jordan

Those with the fixed mindset will do everything in their power to maintain a certain standard or perception of intelligence, even resorting to cheating. For others not knowing the answers is seen positively, as a new challenge to conquer.

For me, this book explains why not everyone is an innovator. Like the growth mindset, the innovator mindset is about seeing setbacks as opportunities and digging deep to find answers. According to the book it is possible to teach a growth mindset, moreover, we have a mandate to do so in order to improve lives. In doing so we could create a new generation of innovators. A lot of emphasis is placed on replicating the Silicon Valley ecosystem but perhaps the most important element of the ecosystem is gathering together individuals who are inherently committed a growth mindset.

We’ve seen this played out with some of our clients. We’ve had clients who had a strong vision for what their product or service should be but the market didn’t agree. In the face of critical market feedback many of these clients were open to new information and went on to pivot until they found a successful way to go to market. The culture of accepting being wrong as part of the process to learn what works best ultimately drove the success and turnarounds for these companies.

If you’re hitting roadblocks and want to learn what could be blocking your path to success, please contact Vision & Execution to help you troubleshoot your business or product issues. Together we’ll find the best path forward.